The Bluelife conference room in Paris was packed with journalists, all leading figures from the scientific community and various guests from all over the world. Marco made his appearance, accompanied by the Director of the Space Division and his team of engineers. He was wearing black trousers, brown shoes, a white silk shirt, and a grey jacket and waistcoat set. Walking slowly and silently, he observed the audience intently, as if he wanted to recognise each of the faces present, savouring each moment of what was happening and smiling inwardly, although outwardly, he showed an icy attitude.

He walked over to the microphone and immediately started the conference.

• Bonjour à tous – Marco began speaking in French with a solemn air – j’ai le grand honneur d’être devant vous pour vous annoncer une nouvelle d’une grande importance pour l’espèce humaine. Ce projet représente un rêve que j’ai depuis très longtemps et vous comprendrez si je souhaite vous communiquer cette grande nouvelle dans ma langue maternelle.

There was a long pause, the audience was silent waiting for Marco’s next words. Suddenly, the translation screens came on and Marco continued in Spanish.

• Today, the 23^th November 2067, the human species has overcome one of the greatest challenges since we reached the Moon. For the first time, Homo Sapiens have set foot on Mars. At 12:23 am PST, the vessel ‘BlueExplorer’ landed safely with the crew after just a little over nine months of travel.

This success is the result of a long effort of many years, and we dedicate it to the memory of the brave astronauts who lost their lives for this mission on the Space X 2040 mission. Thanks to your effort and sacrifice, today I am in front of you to make this announcement.

This event represents a new milestone in human space exploration.  In the year 2060, we were faced with news that has shaken the foundations of our civilisation. The discovery of ruins at the Martian North Pole has shown us that perhaps there may have been intelligent life on Mars or that there may still be intelligent life hidden somewhere on the Red Planet and that for some strange reason, it has gone unnoticed in our thorough study and analysis of the planet. Many questions then arose. This triggered the re-launch of the BlueExplorer mission design and exploration program which successfully reached its destination earlier today.

The goals of this mission are very important. Humanity is looking for answers on the existence of life on Mars and also to study the viability of establishing the first human colony. To do so, a crew of brave astronauts are currently 250 million kilometres from us preparing the first steps of a long-term colonisation project.

It is an honour for me to bring you this news and tell you that this is just the beginning of Bluelife’s ambitious plans to lead humanity towards the stars.”

Marco’s presentation continued and then gave way to the Director of the Space Division where a series of technical details were discussed and the first images of humans on Martian soil were shown. The entire planet was paralysed and everyone had their eyes on this conference and followed minute by minute the transmission that was showing the first images as they arrived fresh from Mars every 15 minutes.

Despite waiting for this press conference for a long time, I was not paying attention to it. The television in my room was turned off. In those precise moments, I was on my own journey into Karla’s heart and on my own mission of exploration and discovery. I arrived at my destination safe and sound and with a feeling of complete well-being and amazed by the feelings that my brain had created.

I had found love in someone willing to accompany me on my adventure to the Red Planet.

From that moment on, the dynamics of planet Earth changed. Every TV show was about what could be discovered in the ruins of Mars. Many theories of all kinds were shared on social networks, in the news and in all media in general. There was a lot of expectations and this was the only subject of discussion day-in-day-out. There was another group of people who panicked from knowing the truth. They disconnected themselves from the world and were added to the long list of suicides that has been increasing since the discovery of the ruins in 2060.

Religions continued to lose followers and other groups and sects grew stronger. Runa, had more and more members who came from various parts of the world seeking solitude and peace in the Peruvian mountains.

Artificial Intelligence continued to have an impact on the human workforce and many countries had not yet found a solution to this problem still. Many people were left without jobs and lived on government aid that was only enough to survive on and were without any possibility of finding another source of income. People was concerned by this issue. It was also common to witness violent protests about it around the world.

The domination of the Bluelife Corporation in the various sectors in which it developed was increasingly overwhelming and it gained more and more detractors who saw Marco as a person with malicious intent, who wanted to conquer the world and the stars with an all-consuming personal ambition for total control of the Universe. Many feared that Marco would become an all-powerful emperor of mankind.

Perhaps their fears were not entirely unfounded.

Human society was entering a phase of attrition. And only the answers that the BlueExplorer mission was going to provide seemed to give everyone a glimmer of hope. It was as if millions of humans around the world, living their pathetic lives, without work and hope of improving their quality of life, had surrendered to what the mission to Mars was going to give them as an answer. They existed, addicted to their screens, waiting for a miracle from the Red Planet.

And so, as the months passed, the first answers began to arrive.

• Marco, you have an urgent call from the Director of the Space Division – his assistant alerted him with a slightly stressed tone – he indicated that this is a matter of high importance and confidentiality – she added nervously.
• Thank you, Ariana, I will personally get back to him – Marco, being cold as he was, could not help but feel uncomfortable when noticing that his heart rate had increased a bit due to the expectation of this communication. Marco was used to being in control of everything, even his own emotions.

He went to his desk and pulled out from one of the drawers a rectangular device that had two RJ11 connectors. In one of them, he connected an earphone that seemed to be taken from an old 90s movies of the 20th century, and in the other he connected a red cable that was stored in a special compartment on his desk. It was a fixed line communications encryption module, difficult to detect with modern technologies. Marco, with the aim of ensuring confidential communications, had built his own global telephone communication network using communication protocols and technologies from the last century, to reduce the risk of spying. All of Bluelife’s headquarters were interconnected by cable in a private network.

• Patrick, how are you? What is it that you want to tell me that is so urgent and confidential? Is it what I think it could be? – Marco asked, showing great interest in the answer he was about to receive.
• Marco, we’ve reached the pyramid! The Alpha Expedition team got as close to the pyramid as possible with the scout vehicle. Due to the rugged terrain, the next stage of the trip will be on foot. We are about 5 hours away from reaching the goal. I gave a stop order to the teams to communicate this news to you and be able to include you in the communication in real time. We use the internal communication channel to transmit the images. All communications are encrypted and we’re just waiting for you to log in to continue with the mission
• You have done well Patrick, cheers, I’m logging in right now – Marco replied, starting a special software designed for this situation. Marco connected to the transmission from a large screen that he had in front of his desk. He gestured to his assistant that he did not want to be disturbed and to cancel all his meetings – I’m connected, let’s get on with the mission.
• Copy that. Alpha team, continue with the mission – Patrick ordered.
• Copy Sir – replied the supervisor of the mission on Earth who gave the order to continue to the team that was on Mars. The first images began to arrive and to be projected in front of Marco’s astonished gaze. He was watching from the comfort of his office, this pyramid that changed the history of humanity only 8 years ago.

The photos arrived along with concrete data. The pyramid was about 700m high and the obelisks were approximately 1km high each. The material of which the pyramid was made seemed to be some type of metal, or an alloy of various metals, or some type of material composed of metals that gave that slight sheen to the smooth surface of the structure. It was difficult to determine, the scouting team had not yet come into direct contact with the target. They were getting closer and closer and the progress from Earth’s perspective was very slow.

The communication system for this scouting mission has been put in place in an ingenious way. In 2040, the Rover was lost for several months without communication after entering the cave. To ensure permanent communication with the Martian base and with Earth, the exploration team positioned transmission antennas along its route, which allowed constant communication to be maintained despite being in the depths of the cave.

But even with all this infrastructure, due to the distance from Earth, the data transmitted from Mars arrived with a delay of 15 minutes. Even a very patient person like Marco considered that to be like waiting an eternity, but he was about to get the answers that mankind has sought about life on the Red Planet.

• Patrick, can we switch to live streaming mode? I would like to see what our teams see in real time even if the transmission is delayed. I prefer this rather than receiving information every 15 minutes.
• Marco, the transmission can be done that way, but we’ll consume practically the entire bandwidth of our communications and it’s likely that there’ll still be cuts during the transmission.
• Give the order, Patrick – Marco knew how to be convincing when he needed something.
• Got it… Control, activate live streaming. We’ll support our teams in real time, taking into account the delay in case we need to give instructions from the ground base on Earth
• Understood – said an unknown voice. 15 minutes later, audio and video transmission began to be projected onto the equipment screen on Earth. Marco leaned over his desk, placing his elbows and clasping his hands, resting his nose on them. He was very attentive to what was being projected.

Alpha’s exploration team consisted of five members. A scientific expedition leader with a background in biology, a geologist, an archaeologist and two members of the Bluelife space security force. They carried state-of-the-art weapons and exploration equipment.

Gravity on Mars is 3.7 m/s², about 62% lower than gravity on Earth. This made movement on the Martian surface light, since each limb weighed 62% less than on Earth. The team approached the pyramid slowly, being very careful not to make any sudden movements due to the extra strength they had and the possibility of losing their balance and having an accident.

The ice cave they were in was colossal in size. It was about 2 km high and covered an area of about 20km². The surface they were walking on was rough, but most of it appeared to be a very horizontal white desert of snow and ice. Giant stalactites and stalagmites accompanied the landscape and there seemed to be no life of any kind. The ruins seemed to be the only indicator of a past life spent there. The team reached the pyramid after several hours of walking. Up close, the appearance of the structure allowed us to identify that, indeed, the material was composed of some metallic alloy and other minerals. The pyramid appeared to be intact and was buried under snow and ice. The obelisks were imposing and were separated by 1km each, which gave the pyramid a square area of 1Km², but appeared to be destroyed at the top. No type of entrance could be seen with the naked eye or anything that could identify said construction as a building that had once been inhabited. The whole surface was perfectly smooth as if each element, the pyramid and the obelisks, had been made in one piece and laser-sculpted to perfection.

• We will carry out an analysis of the composition of the material – indicated the geologist.
• Initialising the exploration drone for the pyramid recognition – indicated the leader of the expedition.
• The first analysis of the structure’s composition confirms a mixed composition of rocks and metals – reported the geologist after observing the first results of his analysis – as preliminary results, we found 60% rock, 10% iron, 20% titanium and 10% to be determined. These results were obtained from the portable spectrum analyser. Further analysis should be done after obtaining a sample but for the moment, according to the action protocol, we’re not going to come into physical contact with the structure yet. Proceeding to a preliminary dating analysis of the structure – the geologist finished.
• Connecting the drone’s display system to the central communication channel – informed the expedition leader – in a few moments, control will receive the signal from the recognition drone.

The drone made a recognition flight around the pyramid. The structure was imposing. The smooth appearance could be found throughout the construction. An infrared analysis did not reveal any heat sources, nor was any radiation from the pyramid detected. The interesting thing came when the molecular magnetic resonance analysis began to try to see inside the construction. An entrance buried under several meters of ice and snow could be identified on one of the faces of the pyramid. It was a kind of portal, approximately 10m high and 20m wide. Behind this portal, it was possible to distinguish what would be a long corridor which sank into the depths of the pyramid. The analysis only allowed to reach a depth of about 30m, so to find out more, we would have to enter.

Suddenly, the geologist interrupted the transmission.

• Alpha G speaking – the G code indicated that he was the geologist – I have the preliminary results of the structure dating…
• Go ahead, Alpha G – the expedition leader replied.
• Gentlemen – Alpha G replied making evident the emotion he felt at that moment – according to preliminary results, we are facing a structure of about 1700 million years old…

15 minutes later

On Earth this transmission had reached the ears of the control team and a stunned Marco who could not believe what he had just heard. Marco switched screens to search his archives for the first image they had received in 2040 of the Rover. He printed the image. He stood up. With the image in hand, he approached one of the glass walls of his office, which overlooked Paris. He observed the city at night. Thousands of people walking through the streets, following their daily routine, worrying about trivial and earthly things without knowing that millions of kilometres away on the Red Planet, we had just found one of our first answers about life on Mars.

Marco brought the photo closer to his face. He looked at it intently and laughed delightfully.

• Patrick! – said Marco reconnecting to the communication system – we can stop the expedition for today, the team deserves a break, they did a good job. Let them contact the Martian base to send reinforcements to the Pyramid as soon as possible. Tomorrow we’ll start the excavation work. We’re going to knock on the door of our very, very old Martian friends.

Little by little, the Red Planet was revealing its secrets to us. Now we knew that 1700 million years ago, there was intelligent life on Mars capable of controlling the minerals in its environment and producing sophisticated constructions. Would their technology be more advanced than ours? What did they look like? What happened to them? Did they become extinct? Are they hiding somewhere on Mars?To find out more, we just had to open the door.